South Korea's Pohang Steelers trounced Japan's Gamba Osaka by three goals to nothing away from home on Tuesday as the AFC Champions League kicked off. Another South Korea side, Ulsan Hyundai also had a solid result in what is the continental showpiece tournament, claiming a 2-1 victory against Beijing Guoan.
Meanwhile, Australian teams had a mixed showing, with Brisbane Roar failing to make home advantage pay, losing 2-0 to FC Tokyo, but Adelaide United pulled off a 2-1 win against Uzbek champions Bunyodkor in Tashkent. The Steelers took the lead in the Group E clash in the 19th minute when Kim Tae-Su stooped in the six yard box to head home a cross from Shin Kwang-Hoon. And the 2009 champions went another goal up three minutes later after goalkeeper Yosuke Fujigaya's attempt to punch the ball clear ricocheted of the head of Pohang's Serbian defender Zoran Rendulic into the back of the net.
Derek Asamoah chipped in a third goal in the 76th minute to inflict Gamba's heaviest Champions League home defeat. "We played a wonderful game against a wonderful side," said Pohang head coach Hwang Sun-Hong. "Our players did according to what we had planned for today. But we still had to move to achieve our objective."
Gamba's new coach, Brazilian Jose Carlos Serrao, apologised to fans for the loss which leaves the 2008 champions playing catch-up. In Group F, Japan's FC Tokyo opened their maiden ACL campaign by upsetting Australian A-League champions Brisbane Roar. The home side dominated possession but were undone by the faster and more clinical FC Tokyo who scored through Yazawa Tatsuya in first half injury time and Hasegawa Ariajasuru 10 minutes after half-time.
Australia's Adelaide United beat Uzbek champions Bunyodkor 2-1 in Tashkent with Nigel Boogard heading home from a corner in the first half and Antony Golec scoring from a counterattack in the second. And in the other Group F match, two first half goals for Ulsan Hyundai - including a 25-yeard strike from midfielder Ko Seul-Ki - were enough for victory over Beijing Guoan. The AFC Champions League has eight groups of four teams with the top two in each qualifying for the knock-out stage, which starts in May.
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